


The Consequences of Falling

by WriterOfFates



Category: Batman (Comics), Nightwing (Comics)
Genre: Angst, Guns, M/M, Major Character Injury, Triggers, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-03
Updated: 2015-11-07
Packaged: 2018-04-18 21:18:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,891
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4720769
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WriterOfFates/pseuds/WriterOfFates
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dick gets in over his head and Jason is the only support close by.<br/>Or<br/>The one thing that might just hit a little too close to home.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Nightwing was in over his head.

Either his information had been bad or the Mad Hatter had more of Gotham’s large and muscled population under his thumb than he had had the night before.

A _lot_ more.

He threw one of his escrima, calculating that it would hit three hatted goons before coming back to him, and kicked a fourth in the face with a high round house while he waited. As he brought his foot back down, he reached out his hand towards where his weapon should have bounced back and found… nothing.

He glanced up and saw a man bigger than Batman standing in what was supposed to be the trajectory of his escrima and the stick laying harmlessly on the ground. Dick swore to himself, mollified only a little to see his intended targets on the ground.

Holding up his second escrima, he watched the big man step towards him. He triggered an electrical burst from the weapon as a warning but the man didn’t even blink. The Goliath of a man reached for Nightwing, moving faster than was fair for a man that big under the control of a high-tech hat, and Dick ducked, swinging up with his escrima, electrifying it just as it connected with his attacker’s pisiform bone. The man roared in pain and his arm dropped. He reached out with the other as Nightwing leapt past him, reaching for his dropped weapon.

Just as his fingers touched it, gunshots rang out through the room, spraying the air. One bullet whizzed through the air where Nightwing had just been, hitting the Goliath instead. The man didn’t even falter, continuing to grab at Dick despite the new hole in his shoulder. The vigilante risked a glance and swore out loud as a group of hatted gunmen entered the room.

He quickly reached up and tapped his ear, opening a communications link. “O! I need help! A.S.A.P. Who’s close?”

“Give me a moment…” the mechanized voice sounded in his ear.

“I don’t have a moment!”

“B’s out of contact, Robin’s out of commission, Red Robin’s out of town with the Titans…”

“Give me anybody!” Nightwing leapt in the air to kick two men in the face before landing and beating at the same massive man, who had movement back in his arm already and who was bleeding from a gunshot wound in his shoulder. Dick moved constantly, avoiding the gun fire spraying the air around him, hoping no one got hit fatally. “Batwoman! Huntress! Call the JLA and make them use the transporter if you have to! Just anyone!”

“Is it really bad enough to call the Watchtower? Hold on. I think I’ve got somebody. It’s a long shot… but he’s in the area… just keep holding on, Boy Wonder.”

Nightwing lost track of Oracle’s mumblings as the Goliath grabbed him and threw him across the room. He managed to catch himself on one man’s shoulders, flipping away to slam his feet into another. He bent and yanked at the hat on the head of the man he had just knocked down, yelping in surprise as electricity made the man convulse. Even with his insulated suit, he could tell the strength of the shock and he pulled his hand back.

“Nightwing! Help is on its way! He’s close.”

“You’re golden, O.”

Another voice cut in, “I thought that was you, Dickie-bird.”

Nightwing froze for a second. “Oracle… not—”

“Sorry he was the only one close. Beggars can’t be choosers. And he promised me he’s packing rubber bullets tonight under threat of me after him.”

“Not nearly as satisfying as real bullets, but hey, they’ll get the job done,” Red Hood’s voice was cheerful through the comm link.

Nightwing ducked under a goon’s swing to slam an escrima up under their chin, moving on to the next even before the unfortunate man crumbled to the floor. “Just don’t kill anyone on my watch please.”

“And smudge your shiny reputation? _Never_.”

“I’ll keep working on contacting more back up.”

“Shoulda just contacted the JLA first,” Nightwing muttered in response.

“That’s still on the table, Boy Wonder. Oracle out.”

“I’m insulted,” Hood drawled. Nightwing spotted a glint of light off of something red and, suddenly, the goon rushing at Dick is face down on the ground. “But I’ll have your back nonetheless because that’s just the kind of caring and forgiving kind of guy I am.”

Nightwing gritted his teeth and just continued working his way through his mind controlled attackers, trying to knock them out with as few broken bones as possible.

“You’re going easy on them.” Jason's voice sounded almost disdainful.

“It’s not their fault Jervis put party hats on them.”

“Hey, if you’re weak-willed enough to turn into a zombie from that second rate rogue’s tech, you deserve it.”

“I’d rather not talk about zombies with you.”

“Ouch. I actually prefer ‘born again’ to ‘living dead,’ thank you very much.”

Nightwing smiled a bit at their banter. “Just don’t come knocking at my door please.” He and Red Hood seldom worked together. He still hadn’t quite forgiven him for what he had done to Tim and Damian, but knew that some of the rest of the family were seeing him in a new light.

And it was nice to know he could still banter with his little brother like he used to, considering all that had happened.

The fight slowly became more bearable as more and more men fell and did not get back up. Red Hood took out most of the gun men and Nightwing continued to flip from one goon to the next. But no matter how many shots or electrified hits he took, the Goliath refused to go down, coming after Nightwing again and again, attempting to get a hold of him.

Dick began to notice a change in the behavior of the goons, their single minded pursuit of him shifting to a mad dash towards the guns on the ground. The first few to get their hands on them immediately aimed towards the ceiling.

“Hood! Watch ou—” Nightwing only managed half a warning before suddenly arms were around him, one pressing against his throat, and he was fighting for air. He could only watch and struggle as Red Hood moved to avoid the shots. He seemed to be in the clear when one suddenly hit his leg and he teetered on the beam. Another hit his arm as he tried to regain his balance and he tipped, helmet smacking the metal before he slid from it and plummeted.

Dick thought he must have gathered enough air to scream because that was all that seemed to fill his ears as the moment blurred, his vision narrowing to where his brother was falling, and Dick saw two bodies falling towards the ground. Somewhere, Dick knew he hadn’t been without oxygen long enough to be seeing double, but he could feel history repeating itself. The body of a loved one plummeting from the heights: the shouts and screams around him sounding like they were simply echoing around Dick from a million miles away: and that pit opening up in his stomach. Nightwing froze, terror filling him and the Goliath tightened his arm around his neck. Dick tried to gasp in air and his mind bounced back and forth between fight and flight. Both involved getting away from the huge man and he finally managed to move, twisting his arms enough to electrocute the Goliath, stunning him enough to free himself, too late to do anything but watch Jason’s body hit the ground.

Dick opened his mouth to scream for Jason but could only gasp for air. He began smashing his way through the goons, his finesse and acrobatics failing him as he tried to get to his brother as fast as he could.

“Dick?! What’s happening?!” Oracle shouted.

“Help…” his voice was hoarse and he wasn’t sure if she could hear him over the roaring of the blood in his own ears. He knocked down anyone in his way, not caring about broken bones anymore.

“What do you need? What exactly is happening? I need you to tell me, I don’t have any cameras in there!”

“Need support. Medical. Immediately. Fell. Help,” Dick managed to choke out as he fell to his knees next to his brother. “Don’tbedeaddon’tbedeadnotagainpleasedon’tbedead…”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dick is alone in this fight and overwhelmed.

It was all his fault.

His baby brother— _Jason_ —could be dead and it was all Dick’s fault.

He was the one who had miscalculated the fight. He was the one who had needed backup. He was the one who had dragged other people into this and Jason could be dead because Nightwing wasn’t good enough. Because he hadn’t been there for Jason like he should have.

Again.

Nightwing could feel hands on him, grabbing at him, and he could feel the panic rising. He felt a hand grab his hair a moment before his head was yanked back and he marveled that none of them seemed to have a knife or the ability to wield it in this crush of people. Their weight seemed to bear down on him, ready to drown him.

He could die here, too.

Oracle was shouting in his ear, asking for—no, demanding—updates, but his throat still felt as if the massive man’s hand was around it, the man who was smashing his way towards Nightwing, throwing his own people aside as if they were dolls. And all Dick could think was, “What if I deserve this…?”

That thought itself felt like a jolt to his system and he tried to struggle against the arms holding him. He wasn’t dead yet. Jason might still be alive. He had to move, had to break free, had to do something.

But he was helpless, immobile, as the giant man loomed over him.

A part of his brain, somewhere far back, told him to accept it. That it was his fault all this was happening and if he died here, so be it. He wouldn’t be the first to die in this crusade and if he let Jason die again? Gods knew he would deserve it.

But every other part of his body screamed to move, to fight, to be free, to save his baby brother. He threw his head back and it smashed into someone’s nose. There was a yelp and Dick saw stars, but he could move just a little more. He turned as much as he could and bit the hand holding his shoulder as he thrashed one of his legs.

He wasn’t going to go down still.

But it wasn’t enough. The Goliath raised his arm into the air, hand fisted, swung it down.

Everything seemed to move in slow motion and Dick felt the urge to let his eyes slide closed, to try and delay the moment in his mind, but he fought to keep them open, to keep that little bit of control over his body, and he watched, bracing himself as much as he could for the impact that would, at the very least, shatter many of his bones irreversibly.

But even with his eyes wide open, Dick barely managed to spot the red and blue blur that sped between him and his adversary. One second, the Goliath was baring down on him, the next, his limbs were sticking out of the newly formed hole in the concrete wall of the warehouse.

Nightwing blinked behind his domino, feeling as if his brain was made of molasses as he tried to sort out what that could mean. He nearly jumped out of his skin as everything suddenly tinted green.

The green light formed into hands that peeled Jervis’s puppets off of Dick before lifting him up over the mayhem caused by the figure zooming through the pawns, knocking them out of the way.

“Supes…?” Dick muttered then yelped in surprise as the figure abruptly flew before him.

“Listen, I know my cousin is your favorite and all, but you should at least be able to tell us apart.” The blonde with the S emblazoned on her costume grinned at him, one hand on her hip, the other holding a goon by his ankle.

“Supergirl…” a deep voice from overhead said warningly. “Don’t give him a hard time.”

“How could you say that, John? I would never give my favorite Bat a hard time!” She winked at Dick and then dropped the man, flying almost leisurely after him to catch him just before he would have hit the ground.

The green hand lifted him until Dick was at eye level with John Stewart. “Green Lantern… what…?”

“Your friend called us in. Told us to tell you that you have an ear piece for a reason and it’s not just decoration. She also said you had an ally down?”

“Jason…” Dick breathed out, scrambling to peer over the fingers towards the fallen vigilante.

John flew them towards the ground, a portion of green light breaking away from Dick’s perch and becoming a panther, driving away any goons near Red Hood.

As soon as he was close enough to the ground, Nightwing lept down and began inspecting what he could of his brother without shifting him. “Two bullet wounds and a fall from up there.” Dick gestured up at the beam high above.

“So just moving him is definitely a no no. Nightwing, are you okay enough to keep anyone away from me? It’s going to take concentration to move him without causing any further injury.”

“I… of course.”

Green eyes lock onto him. “You’d better be sure.”

Dick swallowed and nodded, turning to watch as Supergirl laughed her way through the assailants. He raised his fists, cursing that he had lost his grip on his escrima when he was being manhandled by the thugs.

“Dick? Can I have a status update now? _Please_?” Oracle asked him softly.

“Thank you for calling the Watch Tower.”

“Of course. I had no idea what kind of condition your butt was in, Boy Wonder, so I had to call in the big guns. How are you?”

“Green Lantern is working on moving Red Hood and Suergirl is making quick work of Jervis’s guys. It was a very good call.”

“You’re ignoring my question.”

“I’m fine.”

“You’re full of shit.” He hears a long suffering sigh. “I’ll contact the Tower. Let them know they’ve got patients coming in.”

Dick scanned the fight before him. Most of the goons were too preoccupied trying to avoid being flung by Supergirl to spare a glance towards the other three heroes. It took him a few long moments to register what she had said.

“Patients?”

“Yes. Plural. You’re getting checked out as well.”

“I’m fine.”

“You sound very convincing.”

“I am. I suffered no injuries out of the ordinary.”

“You panicked.”

Dick tensed up. “I have to focus.”

“You certainly weren’t a few minutes ago.”

“Goodbye, O.” He mustered enough steel in his voice that she didn’t respond, although he could tell she was listening in intently, trying to gauge the situation through what she could hear through his comm. He was grateful for that and dropped into a defensive stance to watch the fight before him. 

It seemed like hours that Dick stood there, preventing himself from turning and looking at the progress behind him, afraid he of what he might see. Only two men were able to break away from Kara and come at Nightwing but he dropped them quickly, breaking one’s arm before slamming the other down to the ground hard enough to knock him out.

“Nightwing,” John called out. Dick spun. “Ready?” Jason is laid out on a gurney of green light, a energy brace around his neck and back.

“But I—"

“She doesn’t need your help. You should stay with him. Explain what happened to him when he wakes up, right? You don’t want him to be too shocked. Imagine if Batman is the first one he sees?” John gave a wry smile and Dick sighed, knowing he wasn’t getting out of heading to the Watch Tower. He stepped towards Green Lantern as he felt the prickling sensation that signaled you were about to be transported up.

One moment, he was staring at a body strewn warehouse, the next there were people swarming up to them. He brought his fists up and stepped back before recognizing the white jackets of the doctors. Green Lantern assisted in moving Jason from his energy gurney to a real one, being as gentle as possible and they rushed the unconscious man away, leaving Dick behind in the bustling main room of the Watch Tower.

He took a step down from the transporter and was suddenly surrounded by doctors, tugging and pulling at him, trying to get him to a gurney. He felt as if hands were grasping him everywhere, immobilizing him again.

He bit down the panic he felt rise up and shoved away from them, heading towards the doors Jason had been wheeled through.

He had almost made it when another hand grabbed him, gripping his shoulder. He dropped and spun, crouching defensively before realizing it was Superman.

Clark gave him a small smile. “Dick, you’re safe.” He glances towards the doors, “He’s safe. And in good hands. Please. Let us help you, too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a... difficult chapter. I started to write it and I absolutely hated it and so I just... walked away for a while? More than awhile. Anyhow, I figured I should come back to it cuz I really need to work on being able to complete things that are more than a chapter long at some point in my life.  
> Thank you for reading.


End file.
